


Facts and Opinions

by kingothehills



Category: One Direction (but only if you get it)
Genre: not what you think it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 05:03:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16988547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingothehills/pseuds/kingothehills
Summary: Huey likes reading about weird things, and always shares his findings with his best friend Steeles. He stumbles upon conspiracy theories very often, and sometimes he can’t quite tell if they’re fake news or not. This one about Donald Trump sparked a conversation between Huey and Steeles when Steeles, once again, points out that it’s only a conspiracy theory.





	Facts and Opinions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fredenburg](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Fredenburg).



HUEY: Steeles, oh my gosh Steeles, did you know that Donald Trump is actually bald? I got sidetracked when I was doing my homework last night and saw this news article about Donald Trump so I clicked on it.

STEELES: I’m pretty sure that’s fake Huey, just some weird person’s opinion that got out of control. People say all sorts of things on the internet, most of them are just conspiracy theories. It’s hard to find factual news on the internet anymore.

HUEY: How do you know if you’re reading factual news or not then, Steeles?

STEELES: Well, if something’s true and actually happened then it is factual.

HUEY: But you wouldn’t know, would you? Unless you see it happening with your own eyes.

STEELES: No, but you always have evidence for facts.

HUEY: And you don’t for opinions? You say that “Donald Trump is bald” is an opinion, but in some pictures his hairline appears to be extremely high, would that not be counted as a piece of evidence? 

STEELES: Well yes, but facts have more evidence.

HUEY: So when do opinions have enough evidence to become facts?

STEELES: When our judgement is entirely based on evidence and not guesses, surely.

HUEY: Tell me then, Steeles, would the statement, “humans have contributed to the speed in which global warming occurs” be a fact or opinion?

STEELES: Definitely fact, unless you’re a bigot like Donald Trump and refuse to address it. Scientists have data for it, Huey, you can’t just brush those aside.  
HUEY: But how do you know it’s not a factor humans have not accounted for, something we have yet to discover? For example, humans have always thought that we are the center of the universe, because every day we observe the sun going from one end of the sky to the other end, over and over again. That was data too, does that mean the earth is the center of the universe?

STEELES: No, we discovered later that the earth revolves around the sun didn’t we, so it’s not a fact.

HUEY: Then how do you know we won’t learn something we never knew about global warming later that contradicts the theory we have on it today?

STEELES: We don’t know, but it’s a fact for now.

HUEY: Does that mean facts only exist in the present? That it can change due to the time period in which humans view the event? Let’s imagine a scenario where we can travel through time. We just came back from the future and realized that many things we think of as facts in 2018 are actually not facts in the future. Donald Trump has actually been wearing a wig this entire time, and global warming is actually purely caused by some radiation in space. Are the statements, “Donald Trump is not bald in 2018” and “humans have contributed to the speed in which global warming occurs” still facts?

STEELES: No, because then they won’t be true.

HUEY: But you just said that the second statement is a fact earlier on  
.  
STEELES: Of course I’d take it as a fact now. All the research and evidence agree with the statement.

HUEY: But how can it be a fact if it’s not what actually happened? Wouldn’t you say that facts are just perspectives then, that looking back from the future they can be deduced to a simple opinion of the time period? 

STEELES: Or that they are facts of the time period.

HUEY: How does that make facts and opinions different?

STEELES: Of course they are different, there is only one version of fact, while opinions are what individuals think. Opinions are controversial.

HUEY: Do controversies only apply to opinions? Think about religion, take God for example. If you believe in God, then you think the existence of God is a fact, whereas if you don’t, then you think those who are religious are only holding the opinion that God exists. 

STEELES: People can hold opinions that say God doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t change the fact that God does exist.

HUEY: There are numerous religions in the world today. If everyone claims that their God is the truth and their existence is a fact, then there will be many versions of facts that are controversial to each other.

STEELES: If they only “claim” that their God is the truth, then it can only be said that they are all opinions.

HUEY: So everything that lacks evidence would be opinions?

STEELES: Yes.

HUEY: Haven’t we agreed already that opinions can also be based on evidence though? People think Donald Trump is bald because of pictures of his high hairline.

STEELES: You say it like opinions and facts are the same things, but some things are clearly facts, like 1+1=2. Even if we use a different numbering system, the concept of a quantity of this and a quantity of this put together still equals two of these quantities. How can you deny that this is a fact?

HUEY: When Einstein’s theory of relativity completely revolutionized physics and specifically the concept of gravity from the older paradigm of Newton’s, we can no longer use the same terms and measurements in explaining and evaluating the two paradigms. Similarly, our lack of knowledge can mean that in the future, we won’t be thinking about addition or even mathematics the same way we think of them now. Maybe it will even be inconsiderate when we say “plus” or “minus.” Going back to my time traveling example, how can we say that 1+1=2 is a fact when we know that is not the case?

STEELES: What would 1+1=2 be then, if not a fact?

HUEY: I would suggest that it’s an opinion, an opinion formed relative to the current time period.

STEELES: And what would you say about the desire to exist? The characteristic that all life forms share: the desire to thrive and grow and reproduce? Is that an opinion too?

HUEY: We wouldn’t know any creatures that don’t have the desire to exist now would we? They would’ve been long dead.

STEELES: At least to the humans?

HUEY: At least to the humans. Our lack of knowledge means that everything seen from our perspective is a mere mirage of the greater image, and speaking for the truth of the whole universe would be an ignorant thing to do.

STEELES: So that means everything we count as facts should be opinions instead?

HUEY: I’d like to think so, yes.

STEELES: But if all facts are opinions, would that be a fact or opinion? If that is only an opinion, what’s there to say that there are no facts?

HUEY: Hmm…

STEELES: Hahaha. Me too, Huey. 

HUEY: I’ll admit, you’ve truly confused me there.

STEELES: Now I don’t even know what to believe anymore.

HUEY: That makes two of us.


End file.
